Stupid question but I couldn’t find a topic on this. I got a new router and set it up as the most common automatic IP connections vs static IP/ DHCP. I forgot a few things and thus the question. Vera’s manual only explains how to do automatic or manual, not why you would want DHCP vs dynamic. FYI vera’s wifi is off and I have the ethernet hooked up from my router to vera.
After about 2 years of vera 3 I forgot why I chose the manual static IP setup/connection vs dynamic and I have new router I need to setup bc the last one died.
Why would you choose static over dynamic? I think static was so I could log in to see IP cameras but I bypassed going through vera for the cameras bc it didn’t work with homebuddy and Vera’s webpage via my phone sucked. Maybe it was to have my tablets on the wall have IP cameras via their forward facing cameras and an app running in their background turning the camera into an IP camera.
It sounds like you might want to create a DHCP reservation on your router, so that your Vera and other devices get the desired DHCP address everytime they boot.
But, most of your post is incomprehensible to me. Manual versus automatic what? Where, Vera or router? If the latter what is it, how is it configured… It’s a mess.
Like Z-waver above I too am confused by most of your post. I think you might be talking about manual setup in the VERA networking menu which means giving the VERA a static IP address set in the vera it’s self.
While this may work in most cases in some cases it causes more problems if that address is already being used on the network you will have IP conflicts. Two devices with same IP address.
Since the IP address are given out by the router and it’s the routers job to keep everything on the network organized and hand out IP addresses to each device connected its better to “Manually” set the IP address you want for your VERA in the actual router its self not in the VERA. This is called DHCP reservation as Z-WAVER has pointed out.
What will happen is after you use the Router UI and set the Reservation you router will not give out the “192.168.0.10” to any device unless their serial number (called a MAC Address) is connected. So even after reboot or power down or what ever when VERA connects back to the network your router recognizes that MAC address and says use this IP address… I have been holding it for you.
You can set this up for as many devices you need to.
You guys are on the right track I forgot to use static vs dynamic in the original post. I’m just wondering why to choose one vs the other. Maybe the manual vs automatic is just Vera’s procedure for the setup of static or automatic=dynamic, I was thinking of manually setup IP addresses vs Automatic IP addresses but now that I think about it that would be on the router’s side to set that number also.
I’m thinking that you need static IPs to log in to you cameras from outside of the network ???
Any other benefits to static?
As with servers, you generally want Vera to stay in the same place(same IP address) all the time. That way, things like your browser bookmark or some other aplication will always work without you having to go looking for Vera’s new location(IP address). It’s a convenience, but it is not a requirement for Vera.
However, configuration of a static IP address is not plug and play and is often beyond the capabilities of the average consumer. Most consumers don’t even know what it is, let alone how to set it up, how to mangae it then and in the future, or even why. For this reason, almost all network attached consumer equipment is configured to use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DHCP) to automatically retrieve an IP address from the router when it is plugged in. This makes installation a plug and play affair. But, when the device(Vera) reboots, it may receive a different address.
Depending on how a network is setup and how it is managed, there are several reasons and ways to configure a static IP address. Vera provides the flexibility to do it in whatever way you want/need so it can work in even the most unusual environments, from simple ethernet and IP to PPPoE.
Since a static IP address is desirable - even if not necessary - on Vera and since manual configuration is error prone for many people the often recommended method is a DHCP reservation at the DHCP server, typically a consumer home router/firewall. This allows the Vera configuration to remain at default(DHCP client) and still receive the same IP address every time it boots. It also prevents the DHCP server from issuing that IP address to any other device on the network. Which is very important as duplicate IP addresses typically make both devices sharing the same address unreliable or completely unusable.
If your talking about your WAN or outside your network then your talking about something different. If your trying to access your IP cameras from the internet you don’t specifically need a static IP (altho that would work) for your house, but you will need a DDNS (Dynamic DNS - Wikipedia) or slimier to find your house if the ip address changes. This will also require you to port forward your IP cameras on your network. Port forwarding can be found to most as a security threat/vulnerability. Your now making that device and your local network opened to the web.
Setting up a DDNS and port forwarding all require some network knowledge and it’s not recommend for everyone. Also repeating that port forwarding is a considered a security vulnerability.
This is not required for VERA or if you have your IP cameras in VERA and access them threw VERA.
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